


You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

by parttimefemmefatale (writingramblr)



Series: The Adventures of Twelve and a Rose from another Earth [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Drabble Fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:44:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1934343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingramblr/pseuds/parttimefemmefatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Every chance they have to run, he cherishes it like it's the last.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

**Author's Note:**

> directly follows the 3 parter previous.

There’s a special look she gives him. It makes him feel giddy again. She still finds ways to make him speechless, more often than not it’s because he’s caught her staring at _him._ How often was it the other way around? Back around, oh one hundred years before?

Different him, different her. He’ll never get over his luck.

Rose Tyler, the golden girl, his pink and yellow human, just has to kiss him on the cheek and it sets him afire. His hearts beat with his unspoken undying love for her. He can’t tell her yet, not yet. It’s only been a few months and he still fears something will happen. Something will happen with Daleks and Cybermen, or maybe the Sontarans and the Slitheen. History always repeats itself, or finds a way to take from him all that he holds dear, and someday, he’s sure that she’ll be stolen from him.

But for now, he cherishes every second he holds her hand in his. Every chance they have to run, he runs like it’s the last time.

When he first taught her to drive, in one of the most modern cars, of its time, he never feared for his life. Oh sure, he teased her plenty, especially since he was teaching her in an _American_ car, but considering how well he’d known Henry Ford, and how he’d been able to stop the Cybermen who invaded into the early 20 th century from trying to destroy the Ford Factory, he figures he owes the man’s legacy a bit.

Rose is of course, a natural at driving. But when it comes time to teach her the mechanics of the TARDIS, she balks.

It takes a strong hand to hold hers, and a gentle bit of guidance from the old girl herself, before Rose gets the hang of it.

With even one extra pair of hands, the trips through the vortex become infinitely smoother. The Doctor suddenly fears just what he’ll do without her.

It’s not the end of the earth this time that pushes things to their inevitable limits. It’s the destruction of New Earth.

3 billion years after he and _his_ Rose had been there, and half as long since he and Martha had witnessed the death of the Face of Boe, and the TARDIS brings them to orbit around the supernova that was outshining the rest of the galaxy of M87.

Rose takes his hand, and together they watch the planet burn. It’s just as the original Earth, long since evacuated, and with none of the pomp and circumstance the original Earth got at its demise.

No funeral, no pretend celebration.

The irony would have made him laugh, but it was too painful. Somehow, despite all odds, he’s beside Rose, and being forced to forge new memories.

“Are you alright?”

‘I’m always alright’ tickles the back of his throat, but he swallows, and shakes his head.

“Not really. But I will be.”

He looks down at her, and she spots a tear escaping one eye.

Her hand is up and brushing it gently away, and then stroking his cheek, and he can’t look away, even at the brilliant glow of the former second Sun.

“Doctor…”

She rises on her tiptoes, and is pressing the softest whisper of a kiss to his lips.

“Oh Rose, you shouldn’t-“

She shakes her head and he stops talking, stops him from trying to deny that what he’s wanted and what she’s felt are just precisely what happening.

He’s pulling her into an embrace and kissing her like she’s the wellspring of life itself.

Her hair is soft under his hands, and he finally realizes that he can stop thinking of her as _another_ Rose. She’s still _his_ , but she’s much better. She’s there, she’s real, and she’s in his arms.


End file.
